MERGING THE EAST AND WEST OLYVIA FINE ART 中西合璧 奧利維亞美術畫廊

In this issue of introducing art galleries that specialize in dealing various Chinese contemporary artworks in London, this article focuses on one gallery run by Olyvia Kwok̶Olyvia Fine Art based in Mayfair, London.

As the prosperous global business centre, London has also been known for its art trading for many centuries. In London, the Chinese antiques trade has been a main business among art dealers since the early 20th century. Recently the business has extended to Chinese contemporary art. The Chinese contemporary art market started to grow rapidly since 1990s. A group of avant-garde artists usually known as ‘post-89’ have become the hit of art market, gradually raising the transaction value of Chinese contemporary art. Since 2000, accompanying with the increase of high-net-worth individuals in China, the Chinese art market has been pushed to a whopping price, becoming an important focus in global art market. We can also see this trend in the art circle in London. Many art dealers have targeted their main deals at Chinese contemporary art for its high reward in trading value.

Olyvia Fine Art, formerly Olyvia Oriental, was founded in 2005. It then quickly established itself as a leading gallery in contemporary Chinese painting in the UK. The gallery has a good connection with some renowned collectors, such as Charles Saatchi, Larry Walsh, Frank Cohen and Herman Heinsbroek. Meanwhile, the gallery has also developed partnerships with corporate institutions and art funds, namely, Coutts & Co., JP Morgan Private Bank, Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management and The Fine Art Fund Group.

The gallery focused primarily on the Chinese contemporary painting, and recently it has expanded its market to Western modern and contemporary art. From the name list of artists, apart from the artworks by those famous Chinese contemporary artists like Fang Lijun and Yue Minjun, the gallery now also accommodates various western artworks, such as Western modern Cubist works by Pablo Picasso, the artworks by Marc Chagall who practiced several major artistic styles, and the surrealist works by Salvador Dali. It also presents the art pieces of American pop artist Andy Warhol, as well as those by contemporary environmental artist Christo, Marc Quinn of the YBAs, and the distinguished photographic artist Adam Fuss.

Obviously from the above list of selected artists, Olyvia Fine Art is now dealing with a hybrid collection of artworks. It is a significant change for the gallery to transform from a gallery that only dealed with oriental artworks to the recent one that collects Western modern and contemporary artworks. One may wonder whether the gallery has faced some difficulties in only specializing in Chinese contemporary painting in UK. Another interesting aspect of the selection of artists is, in regard to the Japanese artists, the gallery only chooses works from Yoshitomo Nara and Yayoi Kusama, two of the most acclaimed contemporary Japanese artists for the Western market. Although the gallery does promote some young Chinese contemporary artists to the West (such as Fan Xiaoyan, Zhang Peng and Han Yajuan), it seems that catering to Western taste is the main concern for Olyvia Fine Art to select artworks from other parts of East Asia.

After a brief interview with the gallery manager Stephen Tribbell, we learn that Ms Kwok, owner of the gallery, is particularly fascinated with the figurative painting. For example, in the current summer exhibition ‘Beauty and Revolution: Contemporary Prints and Painting from Olyvia Fine Art’, most of the artworks are figurative paintings, paintings of people’s portraits, and photography of exaggerative facial expressions. The exhibition’s collections are mainly from Olyvia’s private collections, and some from commissioned artists. In some way, how the owner runs the gallery reflects his/her preference and interpretation of art.